This invention relates generally to floor preparation machines and more particularly concerns machines for scraping floor coverings from a base floor surface.
Scraping machines for removing old carpet, tile and other floor coverings from concrete floors consist essentially of a frame with rear end drive wheels and a front end blade. These machines generally use an hydraulic drive system. On some machines the hydraulic drive system is also used to raise and lower the blade or to change the pitch of the blade.
On older machines, the blade is fixed to the frame. If irregularities in or unevenness of the floor alter the attitude of the machine, the blade attitude also changes, causing the blade to partially or completely shear the covering and ride above it. It is then necessary to back up the machine and restart the scraping process.
On newer machines, the blade is permitted to roll on a longitudinal shaft fixed to the frame. Thus, when an irregularity or unevenness of the floor occurs at the blade, the blade rolls about the fixed axis of the shaft to somewhat maintain contiguous relationship of the blade with the floor. However, since the roll axis is fixed relative to the frame, when the irregularity or unevenness of the floor is encountered by the drive wheels, the changed machine attitude also changes the roll axis alignment. The blade edge does not adequately conform to the floor contour because the roll axis is not perpendicular to the vertical plane passing through the blade edge. Therefore, the blade will still shear and ride above the covering.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a floor scraping machine which is able to maintain continuous relationship with the floor when the machine attitude does not conform to the floor contour at the blade edge. Another object of this invention is to provide a floor scraping machine which has a blade which does not have a fixed roll axis. A further object of this invention is to provide a floor scraping machine which has a blade which is able to float in relation to the machine frame. Yet another object of this invention is to provide a floor scraping machine which has a floating blade which can also be raised and lowered relative to the floor. It is also an object of this invention to provide a floor scraping machine which has a floating blade which can also be pitch adjusted.